Just an update

LTD....

Our girl is still with us. She's not gotten any worse but she's not getting any better. Hubby is not ready to let go of his old girl and although I respect his love and affection for her, the constant worry of coming home and finding that she's taken a turn for the worse is very straining.

Renovations......

Our application for permit to build is in to the Town....now it's just a hoping and praying and waiting game. We hope and pray the Town will give us a permit and we wait for 10 business days for the response. After the installation of our new furnace and massive central a/c unit it was discovered that we needed to upgrade our electrical panel and that is being done early next week. (mo' money!) We have removed 30 feet of cedar hedge from the property line in anticipation of the new deck and fence. That was a lot of work! I have weeded the back garden in anticipation of the new bulbs that I will plant for my summer blooms (my ass was cold last weekend which prevented me from continuing to plant). We have purchased a new faucet for the kitchen sink and in trying to install we opened up another can of works that has put us in the position of hiring a plumber to come and fix what we started. (even mo' money!)

my falling apart body.....

Got my sugar levels under control...in fact I'm very proud of the changes that I have made that are keeping my levels in very acceptable region! I've got my blood pressure well into the norm levels despite all of the crap above going on....but it seems that my boobs have decided to give me something to worry about. About a week ago I was getting dressed (cause it's what people like me should do before they leave the house so as not to frighten little children and animals alike) and discovered a bloody discharge from my left breast. This is not something to be casual about. Don't yell at me! I've been to see the Doctor and we are actively doing the tests to ensure that this is not the big "C" and if it is...get it treated ASAP. I'm going for a mammogram and ultrasound on May 29th and then they will be scheduling a biopsy of the small lump that was found. I'm not gonna lie...I'm scared shitless! I've been through every emotion possible and this hasn't even been fully diagnosed. The waiting game is not really fun either! The Doctor tells me that it's likely an intraductal papilloma and that 90% of the time they are not cancerous. I'm going with this. It means removal of the duct and I'm okay with that....in fact I would be okay with getting the breasts removed if it meant I would be cancer free....I've given that one a lot of thought! So until I get the results of the tests I'm keeping a positive attitude and getting on with my very busy life!

There are no classes in life for beginners: right away you are always asked to deal with what is most difficult.
Rainer Maria Rilke

Have a terrific day! TTYL!

How can you make an appointment for this?

My old girl LTD (leaky twat dog) (big dog on the right) has some serious health issues.

Last night we took the lovely lady for her regular checkup to our Vet. The Vet checked her out and basically decided that there would be no vaccines or heartworm meds for her this year. LTD has an enlarged heart, a very resonant heart murmur with serious arythmia problems. Along with this there is probably kidney issues that would make treatment of the above very difficult.

Now, don't get me wrong......we knew this was coming. The old girl is going on 13 years old, that's a lot of years in doggy speak. She's lost her hearing, she's losing her sight and this morning she lost her bowels all over my dining room floor. The stinky mud she left for clean up was riddled with blood.

When I called the Vet this morning to report this new condition he basically advised that there was no point in spending any money doing tests to determine that she was old and her body was failing her....this came with a further warning that things would only go down hill from here. The next step was to schedule a quiet time to come into the office with her and then determine if we wanted to have her ashes returned to us. He didn't talk cost....my guess it's very expensive and please don't make me out as a horrible person....but we are not having the dogs ashes in my house!

My poor husband and youngest daughter are totally distraught. I thought this would be easier for me....my attachment is more to the little dog....but I picked up the phone twice today to call and make the appointment and couldn't dial the number to do it. How the hell do you schedule something so final as a beloved pets death!

Damn it all.....I'll try again tomorrow! I'm supposed to be the strong one! Why am I having such a hard time with this? I think it might be because I love my hubby and kid so much that I hate to see them so upset and setting the date will just be like I'm doing this awful thing to them.

OMG...I never thought I would have such a problem with this! Maybe I really am just a big softie where the animals are concerned.

Happy Birthday Aimee!!!

25 years ago today I was up getting breakfast for my one year old daughter and suddenly it happened....that first pain, the one you feel and you know that something wonderful and exciting is going to happen. Always knowing at the same time that pain is ahead....great big horrible pain.

That's why they call it LABOUR! It's gonna be hard horrible pain.

As the morning moved on I decided to call my sister-in-law to come and get the little one and take me to the hospital to check and see if things were for real and not just giving me practice for the real thing.

Jennifer the oldest was so excited! At a year old, all she knew was that she was going to have a baby brother or sister. I was scared and excited!

My husband at the time had just started a new job and he was at his new job and I didn't want to call him until it was absolutely necessary.

I laboured away until I couldn't take it anymore and the nurses decided it was time to give him a call so he could be there to see his baby born. Luckily, this baby was practical from conception and she courteously waited until it was his lunch time to make her arrival into the world. Daddy arrived, a couple of good hard pushes and into the world came my FAVORITE MIDDLE DAUGHTER AIMEE!


Aimee has become a beautiful, wonderful caring daughter. She is as practical, hard working, extremely brilliant and wonderfully funny! Aimee is loving and extremely thoughtful and yet at times she can be wickedly sarcastic.

She has made me smile since the day she tore into my life 25 years ago!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl! Your Mama Duke loves you loads!!!

Girls at the office

I'm a really lucky girl when it comes to co-workers. I have some very good folks that I work with on a daily basis and I have been very lucky that they have become friends as well.

When you have to spend as much time with people it's nice to know they've got your back.

In the space directly to my right I have Sports Illustrated Girl (we'll call her that because she's cute and fashionable and on her last trip away she took a whole bunch of pics that were SI worthy!) SIG is young and she's just a great pleasure to work with! Her role in our department is to assist us with our proposals, contracts and various and sundry other duties that take patience when dealing with all of us!

This is a view of her back because ....well she wouldn't turn around for a picture....

The person that sits to my left is JD....she is one of the most upbeat people I know and frankly I admire her for her integrity! I actually convinced her to come and work in this department and I know sometimes she'd love to wring my neck for that but she doesn't hold it against me....in fact she even still talks to me!
We get to show her face...cause she posed and knew that I was going to blog about the office ladies!

And now for the space that is mine...without me in it!
This is the little space that I use to do all my great work! See my blog! See my collection of Winnie The Pooh stuff on the shelf....I also have a collection of my pool trophies on the shelf. They make me remember that as a team you can accomplish anything!!

So these are the Ladies that I work closest with on a daily basis and this is our environment...one is definitely better than the other. That would be the Ladies...in case you were wondering!

Aimee saved the day!

Aimee found a cord that I could use to upload pictures! YAY Aimee!

The first step of project "Renovate in 2008" is complete. Here are the before and after pictures.





Before pics, inside and out

Window is out and the cutout is done....

Door is in but the capping still needs to be done

Kids today...you just can't keep them from texting!

Finished product view at night.

It is absolutely lovely, if I do say so myself.....and I do!! When they initially made the cut out for the new door I thought that maybe i had made a mistake getting a 6 foot door. Now I'm not sorry at all!

Tomorrow night the architect comes with the finished drawings to take to the Town for a permit to build. We hope that playing by the rules will not hinder the progress of the deck!

On Wednesday the HVAC guys come to make sure we don't roast this summer and that we don't freeze next winter. They are also moving everything around in the basement to give us more storage space.

The first step is done and hopefully the ones to follow are as easy!

I've lost my camera cord......

I've lost my camera cord and I don't know where to find it.....

The house is in total disorder. The renovations have begun and there are people here tearing a big hole in my wall as we speak. It's a good thing though...the patio door is finally going in. It was supposed to go in on Friday but the rain caused a delay and so here we are.

We went out Friday evening and looked at hot tubs. The company that we want to deal with were having a sale on used tubs so we went to have a look. We decided that it wasn't the best way to go. The savings didn't really make up for the fact that we couldn't get the ozonator/saltwater virtually maintenance free tub that we wanted and the fact that there is no warranty on used tubs....well you get my point. It's kind of like buying a used car....when you don't know who had it, how they cared for it and all that stuff. We see the way our stupid neighbours care for theirs....they don't! So bottom line, we ordered the tub we wanted. We got a great deal because we know the owner of the company. We saved almost 50% off the price of the tub. We are very pleased and the tub is being delivered in the first week of June, which gives us time to get the deck built (we hope!).

So when I find my cord to download pictures, I will make up for the days I've missed!! I promise.

Day 2-MP's Request

MP asked for a picture of me as a child and my daughter Aimee had some pictures scanned that show me as a young child. This particular picture brought back such happy memories for me I thought that I would use it.

Every year at Christmas, my Mom (the good looking chick with the fancy hairdo) would dress me up in Sunday best and take me into the big city of Toronto. We would go and see all the front display windows decked out with wonderful Christmas scenes at the big department store. We would then get to have our picture taken with Santa! I have pictures of us for many years and with each picture you could see the evolution of both hair and clothes fashion. My Mom was a hairdresser and she always had the best hairdos! This particular year I'm wearing a matching sweater and hat set that I'm positive my Grandmaman made for me. My Grandmaman was the most talented knitter/crocheter (are those even words???) I don't think I've ever seen nicer work! I have some of the pieces that she made for my brother and my girls as babies tucked away for them when they have little ones...since I don't knit or crochet!

I figure this must be 1965 or 1966 (I'm probably 2 or 3 years old). I think I was pretty cute ,kind of looked like a boy, but I was cute!!.


Are you playing?

Photo a day for May

Alright I'll play!

According to MP someone decided this would be fun so since I hate to be left out of anything...here goes...

This is the man that makes my heart sing! He puts a smile on my face and he makes me giggle everyday. He is the man that I will sit on the back porch with (when it's built) in my old age. Hopefully the porch is paid for by then....Since this picture was taken on the last day of 2007 his hair has taken the colour of "Arctic Blond" and it's quite stunning with his lovely husky blue eyes (you'd be able to tell if he weren't smashed and squinting so much).

This picture was taken at New Year's and he's half in the bag here. He's most annoying in this state but he still makes me laugh and that's part of the reason I know that it's forever.

Isn't he handsome! He's mine and I'd fight ya for him!!